NATO patrol fighter detected Il-22, belonging to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, flying over the Baltic Sea near the Latvian border.

NATO patrol fighters have spotted and convoyed a bomber aircraft of the Russian Federation, according to Latvian armed forces on July 10. The reports says: "NATO patrol fighter detected Il-22, belonging to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, flying over the Baltic Sea near the Latvian border.”

Russian warships and aircrafts are more and more frequently reported to appear closely to air and sea borders in Baltics since the growing animosity between West and Russia. Specifically Russian warplanes were 270 times reported to be seen near Latvian borders since 2015.

At that they are not violating air or see space of other countries, but in case of airplanes it is about the safety of civil aviation.

It was repeatedly stated by the Baltic states and the UK that Russia is thus demonstrating its force and testing NATO reaction by these flights.